


Who Do You Think Needs Who More?

by PacketofRedApples



Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Trauma, Family Feels, Gen, Guilt, Siblings, Snippet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23038810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PacketofRedApples/pseuds/PacketofRedApples
Summary: Dylan awakes from his coma a year after the Hiss Invasion.
Relationships: Dylan Faden & Jesse Faden
Kudos: 25





	Who Do You Think Needs Who More?

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, the idea was inspired by Julia (or, 'Holy to the LORD' on the Bells of Horses) by mewithoutYou. However, I sat down to write it after a long while after the original idea came to me and now and now am publishing it months later after I realized I probably won't write more of it.  
> This might be somewhat unfinished...apologies.

It’s been a year, or so since Dylan slipped into a coma. They were all losing hope that he’ll ever wake up, not that there was much of a positive attitude towards him… if anything other bureau employees—including Emily Pope—had hoped for him to never really wake up. Jesse was the only one who held out anticipation for it to ever happened (even if she tried to be cautious about it). Spending much more time than need is in his room—or more so the room they happened to keep him in-- watching her motionless brother. She kept on waiting for him to wake up. Kept on longing for the day, trying to figure out what will be the first words she’ll speak to Dylan once he’s awake and no longer hiss-corrupted. But it was hard to think of something, and she was sure even if she planned that far ahead—once he awakes she’ll forget it.

Which wasn’t too far off the mark.

The older Faden sibling was making her way back into Executive. She just was walking to the Control Point. She waves at Simon, but it’s then that she notes Arish’s odd glance at her, that Polaris told her she should talk to him. Jesse nodded absently and approached the security chief.

“Hey, Arish. Everything all right?” She’s close but still walking towards him when she asks, ready to run back whenever she needs to fight some more Altered items acting up or whatever else might have come back or tried to.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine. Though, I—I think you should talk to Pope. Something came up.” Jesse stopped in her tracks, surprised, but nodded once more and headed back to her previous path. This time, however, she didn’t go straight to her office, instead, opting to go to Central Research where she suspects Emily would be easiest to find.

It still took quite a bit, but once she finds her, Emily seems to be absolutely at loss. Looking for something. Jesse approaches her in a rush, already internally panicking that something went wrong… loosely hoping that rubber duck ran away instead, again—at least despite how annoying it is it’s manageable.

“Hey, what’s up? Arish told me to talk to you.”

"Dylan Faden woke up." Pope says abruptly, as she turns around to face Jesse fully. The head of research looks exhausted, and for once not as enthusiastic. "He woke up about two hours ago. We're running tests on him now."

The Director frowns then. Two hours. She was busy doing jack all and Dylan was awake for two hours? She could have spent two hours with her baby brother awake and nobody told her...

"When were you going to tell me?" Jesse asks colder than she would have preferred but her frustration then was true.

"We... we wanted to ensure he was all right first-- Jesse, he's barely responsive. It's going to take more time until he comes back a hundred percent." Emily explains, suddenly defensive.

Jesse shook her head and rushed off to Dylan. She needed to see him.

She practically burst through the door and the two rangers almost jump to stop her but thankfully for both their careers they realize it's the Director.

The younger Faden raises his eyes eventually at her, half-lidded. He looks like he's barely sitting up. Hunched over. He has hair now, covering his face. It slides and covers one of his eyes, but the other is visible... Once he notes her, he looks away. Interest lost. Not a smile, not a tear. It would break a lesser sister's heart, but Jesse is ready to endure many a rejection until her little brother recognized her again. Till they got back to being real siblings.

The woman steps closer to the medics, who were packing up their equipment, hovers over them for a minute or two, and eventually speaks up.

"How is he?" Her voice doesn't betray her full concern, but regardless-- it hints at it.

"He's responsive enough for a guy who's been in a coma for a year, but it'll take some exercise... his muscle tissue didn't experience irreversible damage so that's good, too. Hell, he'll be good as new soon enough. Also, his cognition seems to be intact as well. "

Jesse listens, but there's still a pressing issue at hand.

"And the hiss infection?"

"Well... We're still trying to figure it out. It's hard to tell as of currently. He seems fine." The other medic replies, now. Jesse nods, watches the pair walk out, and then she moves closer towards her brother, with some hesitance sitting down next to him. She notes out of the corner of her eye, a ranger flinch, prepared to argue that she shouldn’t do this – but she shoots them a glare and continues as she wishes.

Sitting next to her little bro felt—well, actually it felt like nothing. The knot in her stomach was too prominent, causing her great anxiety. It rose to her throat and she lost all wits. Unsure what to say directly to him, now that this moment arrived, she decides to play it simple. 

“Dylan, I—“Jesse moves her hand attempting to rest it on the younger’s shoulder, but he angrily pulls away.

“Don’t touch me!” He calls out, his voice was still odd and hoarse from being unused. Awkward even, more so than the last time they spoke. Jesse drops her hand right back next to herself then, that felt worse than being slapped.

After spending a moment sitting in silence, she stands, noticing only then that Dylan’s eyes were shooting daggers at her (before, after his outburst—it felt better to not look at him). She’ll need to discuss a plan for their next step…

* * *

“We can’t let him out of the Oldest House, yet.” Emily argues, clinging the clipboard tighter to her chest, from withheld frustration. Of course, Jesse Faden was an excellent Director in Pope’s eyes, but…she was so blindsided by her brother’s general existence. Her desire to fix a wrong was making her fail to see the bigger picture. “Besides, we might need to investigate him—to see what a nonviolent hiss corruption was like, and figure out if he’s actually really cleansed. Director, this is data that could possibly be never collected again.”

“Emily, no offense, but I really don’t give a shit about your data—I need to get him out of here.” Jesse speaks back from her spot at the desk in Central Executive. The room is too big, the walls too tall, many eyes of the previous directors' looking down, almost like they’re judging. Trench amongst them feels like the only kind one, but knowing what information was collected about him and Darling—it seems unlikely. Yet, it’s interesting how your mind tricks you—he helped after all, in some odd sense. Jesse wishes he would help her win this argument, instead. But he hated Dylan and Dylan hated him.

“You don’t understand, it’s not only a danger he could hold to others—this could hurt him if we don’t ensure it.” The older woman speaks, trying to hold back from raising her voice. This was ridiculous.

“So you think holding him here, like some sort of pet rodent is better!?” Jesse, however, does not hold back.

“The outside world, it could easily overwhelm him after all these years of being closed off from it.” Emily then tries, even if it sidelines the real reason—but this might work.

“Fine, then, I’ll start little by little. But I’m getting him out of here.” Jesse is so high strung on emotion, that Emily isn’t sure she’s ever seen her like this.

“Director Faden, I strongly advise you not to do that. You might cause him bigger damage than anything he’s currently survived. A possible sensory overload, at the very least. Would you in that case even know how to help him?”

Jesse grits her teeth and clenches her fist, but Polaris echoes through her, reminding her to keep her cool, suddenly – to not do or say anything too extreme. There’s a pause as she considers this, grinds it over in her head, till she sighs, yet still very much frustrated.

“Fine… How much longer do you intend to trap him here?”

“Only until we can ensure he’s stable.” Emily smiles, sadly. It’s a victory, yet it’s not at all satisfactory.

* * *

Director Faden watches through the one-way mirror as her younger brother sits chained up at a desk, the room isn't spectacular; it used to be for observing specific Altered Items. Now, it was urgently converted to an interview room, with only some struggle from the House. Dylan looks down at the floor, no specific interest in anything else but staring at the linoleum, almost like he can study every fiber. As if it's safer than looking around the room... His hair falls over his eyes, obscuring the sight. She’ll have to ask him if he wants a haircut; make sure they don’t force it on him.

She reflexively clenches her fist at the thought, an image forcing itself in her mind of young Dylan, her baby brother, being held down and involuntarily having these things done to him. She doesn’t know where the thought comes from, or how accurate it is, but once it snakes into her brain—it rejects to leave. She knew before she needs to be careful, but she doesn’t know how to start this as to not upset him.

A researcher enters into the room with Dylan, and Emily takes out her pen from where she stands behind the older Faden—the now Director, the prime candidate that was never pressured to be in captivity, the one who came willingly and only when she decided to. It’s unfair, even Jesse knows this, feels guilt over it the more she mulls over it. However, she doesn’t run from the thought, instead, she makes herself think about it more. Not to dissect it, but inscribe it into herself. As if it’s something she deserves… she feels like she does. Having seen the coverage of what they did to him, she feels like it’s the least she can do.

“How are you feeling today, Dylan?” The researcher starts, a moment after pressing the record button on the old Reel-to-Reel, looking up expectantly at the younger Faden sibling. However, what follows is silence, without a single movement. Nothing to even remotely acknowledge the poor pen-pusher in front of him…

Jesse absently lowers her hands to her sides, watches, knowing nothing will come from this, yet hoping.

The researcher blinks looks around at the two other people besides him and Dylan in the room—two rangers, prepared to take down the supposed ‘highly’ dangerous man in case of emergency. But for Jesse it’s hard to believe, she still remembers how Dylan used to be afraid of the dark, wake her terrified, asking if she could make sure there are no monsters under his bed or in the closet.

The attempts to communicate followed by silence continue down several other questions, none evicting a reaction at all. But then again, the Director felt it was hard to tell behind the glass.

“I think I should go talk to him.” Jesse abruptly suggests though it’s barely a suggestion. Her tone translates as an action that’s going to happen regardless. Pope looks at her, concerned, weighs her options here.

“I don’t know if that’s a great idea, he holds resentment towards you.” The Head of Research’s voice is steady, with no hint of excitement despite what data that may provide, no fear even if now she spoke as a friend, who did not wish for the other to be harmed. Even if directly, she knew Jesse could easily more than just stand her ground… It worried Emily.

Jesse disregards this, of course, and steps out through the door.

* * *

Entering the room didn’t inspire any sense of intense expectations, Dylan still sat looking down. Not a waver in his posture, not even a hint of his eyes looking up. Even as she sat down in front of him instead of the previous FBC employee.

“Hey.” She starts, voice softening almost as if she was speaking to a small child and not grown man. It halts her then, realizing this was no way to approach him. “Do you want to talk to me instead?”

A long silence engulfs the room, until Dylan’s still small voice that somehow fits a lot of anger in it, speaks up.

“I’d rather it would be anyone else.” Jesse stares at him then, not particularly surprised, but still hurt. It wasn’t exactly clawing at her heart; however, it stung enough to make her look down momentarily.

“I’m…” She wants to apologize but isn’t sure why or how to phrase it.

“Do you know why?” He still doesn’t look up, but he continues. Jesse decides this is a good thing, she can continue this conversation, even if it’s not going the way she wishes it would. It’s hard to believe this is going so poorly, back before she arrived at the bureau before she found him Hiss corrupted, she had hoped for an embrace and joy… This is how poorly it’s going though.

“Yeah.” She encourages.

“Because, Dylan Faden looked up to his older sister, but that was a long time ago...” Third-person again? She grows concerned; almost feeling the need to confirm he is still infected. He looks up at her, tired eyes drilling holes in her from anger. “As a child, he used to tag behind her, admire her every move. She was the coolest and the smartest girl he knew.” Jesse feels uncomfortable suddenly. “Until she left him behind. Abandoned him right at the moment he needed her most!”

“Dylan, I’m—“She tries to comfort him, but is cut off by his voice, louder now, yet still stumbling and strained.

“At first, he worried, scared and hopeless tried to convince himself that she'll come back to him! Save him! But she left him behind, let Trench and the bureau take him and years went by. He learned that the hard way to hate her.”

The Director breathes in, trying to withhold the sudden feeling of despair. She’s trying to figure out what to say, and the quiet moment that follows and drags is enough time for that. He still is looking at her, but not quite now, his eyes shifted behind her.

“I’m sorry. But I promised to myself, right after that -- I will find you and never leave you again. I’m sorry, Dylan. “Jesse’s voice doesn’t shake, even if just barely. She slides her hand across the table, towards him, but Dylan, when he averts his gaze to it, doesn’t look at it with a softened expression, instead with one of disgust.

“I don’t need you, anymore.” That… was not how it played out in her head. “Leave me alone. I’d rather die, than—than...” He doesn’t finish, even as he stutters, he doesn’t even remotely sound like he’s sad. It still holds anger.

They sit there for a while longer, neither speaking now, but in Jesse’s head, there is a mantra of apologies and begging for forgiveness. Almost like she hopes to find the words that would sway him to accept her back into his life.

She somehow feels like that is impossible now.

“Dylan, would you like your hair to be cut shorter?” She eventually suggests, trying to distract and Dylan glances at her through the still somewhat tangled mess that needed to be taken care of. It wasn’t extremely long, but it was longer than she’s ever seen him even as a child. He looks somewhat scared. Like he feels this won’t be a pleasant experience and even if he disagrees, it will happen. Jesse reads the worry but doesn’t fully grasp it. So she blindly attempts to calm him. “If you don’t want to, we won’t do anything.”

He contemplates this for a second, it appears, still holding his sight on her, but then he looks back behind her and doesn’t say anything. The silent treatment hurt, really, but Jesse is determined to hold her ground and ensure the good of her little brother.

It’s still difficult for her to realize he’s not a child anymore, made worse by his tone of voice. His interactions in the Bureau must have been extremely limited.

“You’re only here to rub into my face that I failed.” He speaks suddenly, shrugging one moment and the next he’s inclining into himself, appearing suddenly smaller. He shivers, pressing his hands closer to his chest. Eyes shut tight.

“Dylan? Are you okay?” Jesse attempts, trying to coax him enough at least to look at her.

“I’m fine… I’m fine… I don’t need you.” The younger Faden sibling’s voice echoes through the room, tone raised but vibrating with something held back. Both rangers look at the Director, who motions for them to stay in place.

Jesse instead chooses to stand from her chair and carefully walk around the table to him. By his side, she gingerly moves her hand to rest her palm against his back, but once she touches the fabric of his shirt, just beginning to say his name again, he jumps back from the chair, tripping over it and the chains, and ungracefully collapsing on the floor. It must have hurt, but he doesn’t let it show.

“I told you not to touch me! Don’t fucking do it, you bitch.” The former P6 yelps out.

And Jesse straightens her stance; realizing helping him up would probably anger him more at this point.

* * *

The Rangers lead him out, and he doesn’t even glance back at her, they’re going to lock him back in a room full of cameras. Keep him in sight, only for now they promised Jesse. And she reassures herself ‘it’s only temporary.’ Soon they’ll get out of this place, they’ll be fine. It’ll take a little more time, but she’ll coax him out of this soon. She just needed to keep trying.

Emily walks up to the Director’s side, looking her over sympathetically.

“That could have gone better.” Faden confesses, sighing and still looking in the direction they took Dylan. Pope nods, in agreement because it was better than voicing it and rubbing salt into injury. 

“He seems to be the same as he was before the corruption.” Emily tries to console her boss, but it doesn’t seem to help as Jesse sighs again, as if repeating the action alleviates the pressure or pain she feels.

“I… haven’t felt so powerless in a while.”

“I’m sorry, Jesse… but it’s going to take time. You already knew that—“

“I understood that, but I guess I didn’t anticipate just how hostile he’ll be to me.”


End file.
